Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
This recipe for old-fashioned Southern Buttermilk Biscuits are truly the best! They come out so thick and fluffy and melt in your mouth!
A CLASSIC SOUTHERN SIDE BISCUIT
Being from the south, we pretty much always have biscuits at every dinner. You just cannot go wrong with these easy and delicious Southern Buttermilk Biscuits. They take only a few ingredients and just a little arm work to throw them together. It is so easy to master biscuit making with just a few steps. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t love these biscuits. So if you are looking for that perfect biscuit recipe, then you have to make this Southern Buttermilk Biscuit recipe.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
For this recipe yes, you will want to use buttermilk. If you do not have buttermilk you can make your own at home. However, I will always say that the best biscuits are made with REAL buttermilk. It’s worth the trip to the store y’all. To make it for this recipe, pour 3/4 cups of regular milk into a measuring cup and add 3/4 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice and stir. Let this sit for 5-10 minutes, stir again and then you can use.
This helps incorporate the ingredients and give the biscuits the nice flaky texture that we are going for. It basically builds all those fluffy layers you want in a biscuit.
No. You can just cube it. But I have found over the years that this process makes it much easier to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients. You can grate it large or small but I highly recommend grating it, it will make things much easier.
This helps them brown up, brushing any liquid like buttermilk which is commonly done for biscuits or butter makes the tops of the biscuits nice and brown.
The one tip every southern granny will tell you is to never twist your biscuit cutter when you are cutting out your biscuits. Just push down and pull up. When you twist the biscuit cutter, you are sealing the biscuit edges closed and it will be unable to rise as it bakes.
These will keep on the countertop in an airtight container for up to 2 days. You can heat them up in the microwave for 15-30 seconds before enjoying them again. These can also be frozen, place cooled biscuits in a freezer container and they will last for up to 2-3 months. To thaw remove from freezer and place on the countertop, again reheat them in the microwave before serving.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- unsalted butter – if you like a bit more salt in your biscuits, go ahead and use salted butter here.
- all-purpose flour – you can use self-rising flour, just leave out the baking powder but keep the baking soda. My favorite flour for biscuits is White Lily. I know it’s not sold everywhere in the U.S. but if you can find it – grab it!
- baking powder – the main reasons why biscuits don’t turn out is almost always because the baking powder has expired or gone off. Sometimes baking and powder and baking soda sit in our pantry for so long (since you don’t use much at a time), we forget it actually does lose its effectiveness over time.
- granulated sugar – this does not make the biscuits sweet. You use a very little amount for all the biscuits you get. It’s just depth of flavor along with the buttermilk but you can leave it out if you really want.
- salt – a fine sea salt or table salt works just fine.
- baking soda – the same rules apply to the baking soda as the baking powder – make sure it is fresh.
- buttermilk – I will always say that REAL buttermilk makes the best biscuits. You can do the cheater version if you absolutely must. See my post on How to Make Buttermilk.
HOW TO MAKE SOUTHERN BUTTERMILK BISCUITS:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper. Grate 8 Tablespoons of the butter or dice it very small and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Add the buttermilk to the freezer during this time as well. In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Add the grated butter.
Cut it in with a pastry cutter or you can use two forks. The mixture should appear crumbly with no larger than pea-sized pieces of butter. Pour in ¾ cup of buttermilk (if any of the buttermilk started to freeze, just break it up with a fork). Stir until combined, mixture will be crumbly, with some of the flour not fully mixing in. Lightly dust a clean work surface with more flour. Pour out the dough mixture and work it with your hands to form a ball.
Roll the dough out into ½ inch thick rectangle. Fold ⅓ of one side over the center. Fold the other ⅓ on top. Roll it out into a ½ inch rectangle again and fold the same way. Repeat 1 more time. Do the tri-fold one last time but this time roll out the dough into a 1-inch thickness.
Using a 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Do not twist the biscuit cutter when doing this. You’ll seal off some of the edge and they won’t rise as tall. Place the biscuits slightly touching onto the parchment-lined sheet tray.Roll the scraps back into a ball and roll it out again to cut more biscuits. Keep doing this until you have 8 biscuits. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1 Tablespoon of buttermilk. Bake for 13-15 minutes until puffed up and the tops are golden brown.
While the biscuits are cooking, melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter. Immediately brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter.
Let cool slightly and serve.
WANT MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES?
Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided use
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup + 1 Tablespoon buttermilk, divided use
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
- Grate 8 Tablespoons of the butter or dice it very small and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Add the buttermilk to the freezer during this time as well.
- In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Add the butter.
- Cut it in with a pastry cutter or you can use two forks. The mixture should appear crumbly with no larger than pea-sized pieces of butter.
- Pour in ¾ cup of buttermilk (if any of the buttermilk started to freeze, just break it up with a fork). Stir until combined, mixture will be crumbly, with some of the flour not fully mixing in.
- Lightly dust a clean work surface with more flour. Pour out the dough mixture and work it with your hands to form a ball.
- Roll the dough out into ½ inch thick rectangle.
- Fold ⅓ of one side over the center. Fold the other ⅓ on top. Roll it out into a ½ inch rectangle again and fold the same way. Repeat 1 more time.
- Do the tri-fold one last time but this time roll out the dough into a 1-inch thickness. So when all is said and done, you will have done this process 3 times.
- Using a 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. DO NOT TWIST THE BISCUIT CUTTER. Place the biscuits slightly touching onto the parchment-lined sheet tray.
- Roll the scraps back into a ball and roll it out again to cut more biscuits. Keep doing this until you have 8 biscuits.
- Brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1 tablespoon of buttermilk. Bake for 13-15 minutes until puffed up and the tops are golden brown.
- While the biscuits are cooking, melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter.
- Immediately brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter. Let cool slightly and serve.
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
- Please note the video shows 6 biscuits but you can easily get 8 biscuits from this recipe.
- You can easily double this batch to make more.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
- Grating the butter is the easiest way to incorporate it.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Hello. I was wondering if I need to make any adjustments since I live in a higher elevation? Thank you for your time 🙂
I’m sorry. I’m not familiar with higher elevation baking :/
Love this recipe. I double it up- some for now, and freeze the rest for later! I also use the scraps on top of pot pie instead of using pie crust. 🙂
That is a fantastic idea Randi! Thanks so much!
These biscuits were a hit at Thanksgiving a few years ago. We had them for breakfast the day after and my brother-in-law asked for the recipe when he and my sister got back to their homes. They don’t have a Bojangles where they live (he’s from NC) and Popeye’s biscuits ain’t it. When they come visit, he makes a stop at Bojangles, but when I made these biscuits, he gladly canceled that Bojangles run. I cut them big enough to make breakfast sandwiches. The whole family LOVED them.
These biscuits were easy and SO flaky and delicious!!
Hands down best biscuit recipe! PERFECT! This will now be my only. My husband even commented on how good they were and he’s not a big biscuit guy.
This makes me so happy to read – yay!! Thanks so very much for coming back to comment – it really means so much!
This is the best biscuit recipe I have ever had, and I have tried many !!!! But this one ends my search!!!!
great recipe!
I try making these , never been good at it. But this recipe was so easy and turned out flaky buttery!! Ty you so much.
This is now my go-to biscuit recipe! The flavor is great… a real crowd pleaser!
The best biscuits I have ever made (well, besides your Butter Dip Biscuits lol). I totally trust all of your recipes so decided to give this one a go. Absolutely delicious and fluffy!
The best biscuits I’ve ever made – thank you!
just wanted everyone to know I’m not a baker at any level but I just made my girl a birthday batch and they just went into the oven no actually taste results yet. Getting ready to start the sausage gravy to go with them . Just saying thank you. Casey A St. Joseph, MO
This makes me so happy to see Casey!! Thanks so very much!
these are the best biscuits I’ve ever made. flakey tender and crisp on top and bottom. I did use fresh lemon juice in milk and they came out delicious
Amazing recipe! Made it twice & added garlic powder to one. It was just delish!
Yay!! Thanks so much Sara! I appreciate you taking the time to come back & comment!
These came out AMAZING!!!! I finally found the perfect recipe. Made them three days in a row because me and the kids and my husband kept eating them. And now I’m making a few batches for Thanksgiving dinner!
best I’ve made
Making buttermilk biscuits is always a hit or miss for me. These biscuits were so tender and the flavor was nice. My only drawbacks were 1) It’s humid today, and my kitchen was hot so I had to keep refrigerating the dough to keep the butter from melting. I did this in between each fold. 2) I only yielded 6 biscuits. So I guess that would be my only “miss” for these. I will make these againf!
Hello,
These look amazing! I saw your comment on freezing them after they are baked. Have you tried freezing them before baking?
Thank you,
Amanda
No I have not but you should be able to do that by flash freezing 🙂 https://www.thecountrycook.net/how-to-flash-freeze-food/